Manifesto offers big spark of hope

AFTER Labour’s manifesto launch yesterday, no one can be left in any doubt about where the party stands in the political landscape.

A £10 living wage, the end of Universal Credit, the reform of welfare, the rebuilding of the NHS, a massive housebuilding programme – all these and more are policy pledges we would expect and welcome from the Labour Party.

The UK is on its knees after a decade of Tory and, let’s not forget, Lib Dem austerity.

A Labour government in Westminster would provide the spark that would lift people out of poverty.

But Jeremy Corbyn’s bus does not stop in the middle ground. His government would go further with mass re-nationalisation, a reversal of the Thatcher revolution.

Plans like nationalising broadband aren’t harum-scarum ideas, though they are bold.

When the £146million contract to provide superfast broadband to the Scottish Highlands was issued, there was only one bidder left – BT.

Two out of three regional contracts for broadband provision in Scotland have only one bidder. Guess who?

Why allow a virtual private monopoly when the state could provide an essential service?

Making the polluters pay for a green economy that must come is radical too.

John McDonnell has it right – this is not a tax on Aberdeen, it is a tax for Aberdeen and to transition away from big oil and the multinationals that have cleaned out the North Sea and made massive profits in the process.

On the big questions – Brexit and Scottish independence – Corbyn is isolated in the middle, trying to appease both sides. That, and his own leadership abilities, are Labour’s weakness.

But Labour is a movement, not one man, and its manifesto has big strengths, big ambitions and has social justice stamped on every page.

When the alternative is a bleak, Etonian Brexit, this is a lightning bolt of hope.